


Anyways

by darkesky



Series: picking up the pieces [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-03 18:55:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16331648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkesky/pseuds/darkesky
Summary: Once upon a time, when his brother was ‘dabbling in psychology’, he told Gavin he didn’t know how to be alone. From the moment he was born, Gavin reached for all kinds of human interaction. He desperately sought out other people while his brother never really minded being alone.But why would he need to be when he had Antony Deckhart right there?---A view of Gavin and his partners at the DPD.





	Anyways

Once upon a time, when his brother was  _ ‘dabbling in psychology’,  _ he told Gavin he didn’t know how to be alone. From the moment he was born, Gavin reached for all kinds of human interaction. He  _ desperately  _ sought out other people while his brother never really minded being alone. While Gavin withdrew himself when left alone, his brother  _ thrived. _

Then, to really nail him, he began to come up with all these reasons. Their parents got married to each other when both were ten years old. Gavin’s father went AWOL a long time ago, leaving nothing behind but a note and a broken promise. His new ‘father’ didn’t give him the time of day. If he couldn’t be a genius like his step-brother or a domestic housewife like his mom, then what was the point of Gavin being around?

Gavin promptly told Elijah to fuck off. He knew how to be alone. 

If he ever really thought about it, though, Gavin knew he was lying. From the day he was born, he became half of a whole. His best friend grew up alongside him. From toddlers wearing fake capes and declaring themselves superheroes to teenagers with raging cases of acne and ‘girl’ drama, they stuck by each other.

Some people just  _ fit  _ together in ways other people couldn’t. For all Gavin’s rough edges, Antony  _ only  _ had rounded, smooth parts. When people infuriated Gavin beyond words, Antony knew  _ exactly  _ what to say. Antony charged forward recklessly, but Gavin always knew how to pull him back. 

So yeah. Gavin knew  _ how  _ to be alone. He just chose not to be. Why would he  _ need  _ to be when he had Antony Deckhart  _ right  _ there?

\---

The night before prom, Antony got his first girlfriend. He came to the Kamski-Reed household in full-panic mood. “Gav, what the fuck do I do? I’ve never had a girlfriend before, and she’s had all this goddamn practice and… How do I fucking compare to a football player?”

Gavin, on the other hand, never really got any girlfriend. When he went to social events, it was usually with one of Elijah’s rejects. If they couldn’t go with his brother, why wouldn’t they go with Gavin? Gavin swallowed his pride and went with the band geeks or the bookworms or the cheerleaders Elijah brought to his room.

“You’re just as fit as a football player,” Gavin opted to say, not looking away from the video game. Violent video games breed violent people, his mom used to be fond of saying. Then, at some point, she just gave up on ever trying to talk to Gavin. 

Antony’s glare felt as if it’s cutting him up… Or plotting some kind of murder. “Susan isn’t going to care. She dated the  _ quarterback!” _

“The quarterback is also full of shit and cheated on her with, like, fifty other girls.” He barely tore his gaze away from the game. “Besides, isn’t prom just supposed to be an excuse to hook up?”

“I’m pretty sure I can’t compare there either.” Flopping bonelessly against Gavin, Antony reached over and sent the controller flying. Seconds later, someone blew his character up on the screen, and Gavin  _ might just  _ fight him. 

He groaned. “What’s the big  _ deal?” _

“I haven’t even had my first kiss!” Antony dramatically made a face, and Gavin broke out laughing. He  _ certainly  _ had his fair share of kisses. To his great surprise, the bookworm certainly knew what she was doing when she mashed her lips against his. Then again, she just said it was ‘practice’ for Elijah...

Huh.

Gavin shifted against Antony. “I could teach you some pointers you know… As the resident heartbreaker of the school.”

“Bullshit.” His friend laughed breathlessly, and something in the air shifted slightly. Somehow, there wasn’t any humor in the situation. Even though they sat inches apart, Antony’s breath hot and curling on his face, neither of them said anything about the strangeness of the situation. “I doubt you’ve gotten more action than me.”

“Want me to prove it?” He lifted an eyebrow in silent question, and Antony smiled ever so slightly. He nodded and bit down on his lip. 

Gavin moved, and this kiss was  _ nothing  _ like the one from the bookworm… Right now, he couldn’t even remember her name. He can’t remember his own  _ name.  _ For someone who never kissed anyone before, Antony kissed  _ exceptionally  _ well. 

_ (Later, Elijah barged into his bedroom, and Gavin threw a pillow at him to try and get him to leave. His brother said nothing but pulled up his laptop… Where he apparently uploaded photos of the kiss. Gavin hadn’t even realized his brother was scavenging for blackmail info that particular second. _

_ If someone looked at it, they’d never know it was for ‘practice’ or for Susan, Antony’s prom date. While Gavin had closed his eyes and kissed Antony as passionately as he could, Antony’s eyes were open ever so slightly. In his eyes, there was a surprising amount of affection. _

_ He must have been imagining Susan. He specifically told his brother that, and all Elijah did was lift an eyebrow in silent question. Gavin threatened to beat him up then. While Elijah possessed the ‘greatest mind of the century’, Gavin certainly knew how to rough someone up. _

_ He left, but not without getting the last word. _

_ “If Antony was imagining Susan, who were you imagining, Gavin?” _

_ And Gavin gawked at the retreating back, ignoring the flames rising in his cheeks. Truthfully, while he thought of his brother’s reject briefly, most of the kiss he thought purely of Antony. _

_ Fuck.) _

The longer the kiss lasted, the more it changed them. Gavin shifted to be on top of Antony, pressing him into the carpet, and Antony entwined his fingers in Gavin’s hot mess of hair. 

At some point, Gavin pushed back with a pant. His best friend stared at him with his hungry, desperate brown eyes, and Gavin returned the look with something forbidden written clearly across his face. 

Antony turned his face away slightly, and a familiar expression wrote itself on his face. Gavin knew he felt guilty without any words being shared. He cleared his throat slightly, and Gavin bit his tongue to keep himself from interrupting him. “It’s just practice, right?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Gavin’s chest tightened at the…  _ Omission  _ of the truth.

Then, Antony surged upwards to shove his tongue into Gavin’s mouth as  _ practice. _

\---

The three of them sat in the basement for the last time, almost ready for graduation, but painfully far from it. Gavin hadn’t even slipped into the ugly robes yet, and Antony played with his hat on his lap. Elijah perched on the couch, typing whatever his newest  _ idea  _ was.

“So…” Antony’s voice lingered long in the air, and both of them turned to him. He flinched slightly. “I hate when you two do that.”

“Act like brothers?” Elijah dryly asked. “Me too.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Gavin picked up the nearest thing, a long forgotten video game controller, and chucked it at his brother. Elijah simply shifted slightly to let it fall to the ground.

Looking between them as if spotting a bomb, Antony cleared his throat. “What are you gonna do after graduation? Like, there’s no going back after we do that… Right?”

Gavin ran through all the typical replies he gave. When the counselor asked him about his ‘future’ plans, he told her he intended to be a male prostitute. It’s safe to say he was no longer allowed in the counselor’s office from that moment on. He also got a particularly long school suspension.  _ Regardless,  _ he’s smart enough to know Antony doesn’t want that image in his head.

Instead, for the first time, he spoke honestly. “I’ll be a detective for the DPD.”

“I don’t know what I’ll do,” Elijah flippantly replied. Then again, you can afford to be flippant when you’re like Elijah. Whatever he ends up doing, he’ll do spectacularly. And it’ll kill Gavin a little more inside. 

Antony turned suddenly, completely ignoring his brother. “Wait, seriously, Gav? I thought you were trying to go out of state?”

“Eh. Detroit is a shithole, but it’s  _ our  _ shithole.” It doesn’t really make sense when it came out of his mouth, but Antony nodded like he knew  _ exactly  _ what that meant. Elijah snorted and went back to his laptop. 

Moving closer, Antony began to fish out his iPhone. “I’m trying to go into the DPD too. Just a police officer, which isn’t  _ nearly  _ as impressive as a detective, but I don’t have the Kamski-Reed brain.”

“Neither does Gavin,” Elijah quickly retorted.

Once again, Gavin got the overwhelming desire to lunge across the couch and tackle Elijah off the couch. Maybe his precious laptop would break. Maybe he’d convince his brother to spend a little less time on electronics and a little more time on whatever the hell he wanted to do with his life.

Antony smiled ever so slightly, almost unnoticeable by anyone else in the room. His hand drifted slightly and landed inches away from Gavin’s. Then, Gavin let his close the gap. Distracted by the laptop sitting in his lap, his brother refused to notice anything else going on.

They were still  _ friends  _ though. Only that.

Leaning even closer, Gavin dropped his voice to ensure his brother doesn’t hear. “So I guess you’re going to be stuck with me for the next few years, dipshit.”

“There are worse things,” Antony retorted.

Then, the door to the stairs slammed open, and his father arrived back home. They sprung apart as if shocked. The moment would always end the second he came back.

Besides, they had a graduation to attend.

\---

“For  _ years,  _ we haven’t talked. Why am I still your emergency contact?” Elijah mused as he stepped into the hospital room, trailed by one of his androids. Gavin distantly remembered the name starting with a C, but it’s a miracle he even recalled his brother’s name.

Gavin stared blankly at him, noting the image beginning to form above his head. He could  _ swear  _ he pictured their home materializing around Elijah, down to the fuzziest details. The top of the stairs of the basement, marred with scratches and giant marks of violence. The flickering light above which went out at least twice a month. The suspicious stain on the carpet…

Something cold touched his chin, forcing his head upwards. “Chloe, analyze him, please. How long until the last of the ketamine is out of his system?”

“I estimate 36 minutes remaining. The injection spot was in his neck.” The oddly feminine voice distorted in the air, twisting until it sounded like his mother’s halfway through. As if somehow, he really  _ did  _ get home. 

Pulling back slightly, Elijah looked away towards the blurry figure. “Find the whereabouts of Antony Deckart. They’re roommates after all. Or maybe the extended period of cohabitation led to the two getting over themselves… How long do you plan to dance around each other?”

Gavin blinked, and the question registered after a few seconds. The word came garbled and strange.  _ He  _ can’t even register what he attempted to say until it’s too late, the memory of the word floating out of his mind.

“Antony Deckart was called out to 1554 Park Avenue, Detroit. There is a deviant threatening the life of a family.” Her voice sounded reluctant to report the second part. “I’m sorry; I don’t believe I can contact him. He’s busy at the moment.”

“Deviants are fickle creatures.” The cold fingers grazed his face, pulling at his eyelids. Gavin flinched away, and his brother hummed in response. “Your pupils are  _ incredibly  _ dilated, Gav. Did you finally get high?”

This time, he doesn’t even attempt to respond. A weird fuzziness began to knit its way over his skin, suspending him in a state of disbelief. Can someone lose their legs by sitting perfectly still? Or maybe somebody cut them off… He wouldn’t put it past his stepfather.

Elijah finally let go. “You’re not much of a conversationalist like this. Suppose we’ll just have to wait it out. Make yourself comfortable, Chloe.”

The rest of the time passed in a strange dream, but Gavin’s unsure if he ever closed his eyes. Someone placed a hand on his chest in a silent attempt to monitor him. Maybe later, he’d be able to identify the person as an android. 

By the time he  _ finally  _ came to his senses once more, his brother snatched his phone the second it started ringing. “Gav, looks like your boyfriend is calling.”

“Don’t,” he slurred. 

Waving him off, Elijah brightly picked up the phone and clicked on speakerphone. “Elijah Kamski speaking.”

“Elijah-”

“Is your brother with you?” The voice oddly gruff, oddly familiar, oddly…  _ Concerned?  _ It sounded like Hank Andersen of all people, but it didn’t make sense. Why would Hank feel the need to call him? The two butt heads frequently at work, and they’re  _ certainly  _ not friends.

His brother’s face contorts slightly. “Yes? Why? Chloe…”

“Already on it.” Chloe smiled serenely, crossing her legs at the ankle. Her LED flickered yellow, and her eyes glazed over. She must be searching for whatever distressed Hank this time.

Hank beat her to the punch. Or maybe Chloe figured it out but she can’t fucking find the words to say it. “I’m sorry. Deckart went to the Phillips’ apartment to attempt to defuse a situation with a deviant, but he got shot and-”

And  _ died.  _

Antony’s fucking  _ gone. _

\---

Once upon a time, when his brother was such a fucking prick, he told Gavin he didn’t know how to be alone. And Gavin never needed to learn because Antony was there. They shared a childhood, and they shared a tiny apartment when both of them went to the DPD. Neither of them suggested their living arrangement was strange, how they’d occasionally kiss one another but immediately revert back to friendship. How they’d hold hands out of eyeshot. How they shared fucking  _ shirts.  _

But he supposed he’d learn how to be alone soon enough. With Antony gone, there wasn’t much he could do. The others tiptoed around him, but he still exploded. He exploded at Tina and called her a bitch, he told Hank he was a fucking coward and a lousy detective at that, and he made  _ sure  _ nobody wanted to be anywhere near him. 

Talking to  _ anyone  _ made him want to rip off his skin. They’d ask about Antony, or they’d ask about how he was doing. Gavin barely managed to make his way to the funeral, and everyone either treated him like his best friend died or his husband died. 

Then again, it certainly felt like both.

Gavin dedicated himself to exactly two things for every month onwards. Being an asshole and being a detective. The fact both worked together  _ so well  _ was just a happy coincidence. He solved every case in his way, even if most of the time he got bloodied and beaten by the end of it. He could patch himself up afterward.

But then Connor joined the DPD, and Connor was a slap in the face… No, Connor was salt in a wound still smarting from  _ three months  _ ago. Gavin never knew how to heal himself well. He slapped on bandages on well enough. But maybe, he left it to fester and become toxic until someone had to stab at it once more.

Today was that day.

A while back, he convinced Chloe to hack into the Phillips’ private security camera for him. He watched exactly what went down. He watched his brother’s invention kill whatever the hell Antony was to him, which is nothing more than a heartache. ‘Connor’ succeeded with his mission of course. He kept the little girl from death, and he managed to talk the android out of violence.

Gavin rewatched the moment the SWAT team shot the deviant to pieces more times than can be considered healthy. At least there was some justice left in the fucking world.

The day Connor arrived, Tina made a point to pull him aside, eyes equally angry and concerned. “If anyone is the bitch here, it’s you. You’re on a tight leash around here. You  _ know  _ that, right?”

“I think I realized,” Gavin snapped. He reached for his cup of coffee, but Tina sidestepped him and blocked him. When he attempted to grab it again, she planted her hands on her hips. “Move, Tina. It’s just an android. Why the fuck do you care so much about this?”

“You seem to care this fucking much,” she retorted. Once, Antony refused to talk to the two of them at the same time. He said Tina’s rather bleak sense of humor matched with Gavin’s explicit sarcasm made a  _ horrible  _ combination. The two of them still spent way too much time together.

He scowled. “It’s not a big deal.”

“It  _ is.  _ Antony was my friend too. You’re not the only person who got left behind.” She pulled a face and backed away slightly, ready to slug something. Gavin backed up to ensure it wouldn’t be his face. “And against  _ all  _ odds and  _ everything  _ you’ve said to me lately, you’re still mine. So the least you could do is answer the fucking answer. I’m not asking you to play nice with ‘Connor’. I’m asking you not to get yourself fired because I’ll be damned if I lose you too.”

Gavin stared at her. Then, he allowed a small smile to appear on his face for maybe the  _ first  _ time in months. “Don’t be such a sap.”

“Oh shut up.” But Tina smiled back ever so slightly. For something to be fixed, maybe something needed to break. And finally, he felt comfortable with one of his friends again. Finally, he felt comfortable with the fact he’s allowed to smile and laugh with  _ Antony’s  _ friends again.

It’s not anywhere near fixed, but he’d be damned if it didn’t feel a little less raw.

\---

Everything goes as right as it can for the duration of the revolution. Then, everything shatters when Cyberlife releases the androids they made towards the end of the revolution. Gavin’s pretty sure his brother stepped in, ensuring the officials of Cyberlife didn’t destroy anymore. They’re stepping back from making androids, instead devoting their time and energy to making android services. Repair shops posing as hospitals and new attachments and upgrades for the remaining androids.

He shouldn’t have been surprised when more Connors showed up, but he’s stunned when Fowler called him to the office. In the corner of the room, a new Connor stands… Taller, wider, putting off more aggression than anything else.

“This is your new partner,” Fowler slowly says, and Gavin’s back to being a ticking time bomb. 

And he  _ explodes.  _ “No  _ fucking  _ way.”

“You know my policy on partners. I’ve let you off easy lately since Hank didn’t have one. And then I let you off easy because you were grieving. But at some point, I can’t keep bending the rules for you.” Fowler fixes him with one last warning glare, and Gavin wants to  _ scream. _

Instead, he turns to the fucking machine, the copy of the man who got his Antony killed. “Anyone else.”

“I can’t.”

RK-900 gives him what can  _ only  _ be described as a smug look. “Well, Detective Reed, do you intend to show me to my desk?”

**Author's Note:**

> Every time I sit down to write something about Simon, I churn out another character. I swear Simon's coming. Anyway, I was thinking about Gavin didn't have a partner and he FREQUENTLY gets paired with RK900 because of that, and I was thinking about why that was. The original concept was Antony as his partner, but I decided for Antony to be his partner in a DIFFERENT way.


End file.
